Whenever you save or the auto-save saves your script, Final Draft makes an additional date- and time-stamped copy (i.e. 202307041730Scriptname) and places it in another folder for safe-keeping. In this example, the file named Scriptname was backed up in 2023, July 4, at 130 PM.
See these articles for information on accessing the Backup folder:
To be on the safe side, in case the backup is damaged as well, you will want to rebuild the file so you know you're working with a healthy script. See How do I rebuild a corrupted Final Draft script? for more information.
IF YOU DON'T HAVE A BACKUP OF THE FILE
and you have Microsoft Word:
- Open Word;
- Go to File Open -- on newer versions of Word you may have to navigate through Computer, then Browse to reach this window;
- Under the Open, the Files of Type or the Format dropdown menu, choose Recover Text From Any File;
- Navigate to your damaged Final Draft file and double-click it;
- Click through any dialogues that open up and you'll be looking at an ugly version of your script;
- Go to File Save As and save it to your Desktop as a Plain Text file.
- Quit Word and open Final Draft;
- Go to File Open, navigate to the plain-text copy of your script and double-click it;
- Choose Script as the import mode and you'll be looking at an ugly but completely healthy version of your script;
- Save this as the new master and clean it up by deleting blank lines, spaces and gibberish text, and reformatting blocks of text. For more information on how to clean up a script, click HERE.
2020
https://fd.support/43pvILy